A Wound From The Past

Pondering hard on the advice given to him by Jin, Roy's mind was left in a constant state of confusion.

"It all depends on me huh." He thought.

Time moved swiftly and before he knew it, it was already evening. It was time to head back to the orphanage before he missed his curfew again.

The river was quite close to the Nikuru district, it didn't take time for Roy to arrive at the orphanage just in time as the curfew was 7:30pm and presently, it was 7:25.

"Look who's back!" Trent proclaimed, turning everyone's focus from the dining table to Roy.

"Welcome back Roy." A cute feminine voice uttered, it belonged to one of the kids big mom also took in years ago. Her name—Lina Cosgrove, a nine year old child who lost her parents to a burning house. The cause of the fire was unknown but a general perception had already been laid, it had to be from those villains.

"Where have you been bro? These days you just disappear before any of us wakes up and you come home pretty late." Kirito pointed out, expressing his feelings of concern for his friend.

"Yeah, we are all starting to get worried." Song added.

Roy maintained his silence for a short while. "Lina, Trent, Song, Kirito, all of you. If I tell you the truth now, you'll all be in danger sooner or later even if you do approve of me, it's just like Jin said, families are always a constant target. Which is why I cannot tell any of you" He thought, his eye lids expanded as the realization dawned on him.

"Families are always a constant target, for better or worse? Tell them? You damn fox, Jin wasn't giving me a choice, he was giving me an option!" He proclaimed in his thoughts.

"Roy?" Trent said aloud, rising swiftly to his feet.

"Are you alright?" The others chorused in sync, they all watched as Roy's eyes expanded widely. It became a cause for alarm.

"Don't worry about me guys, I'm alright, I just thought about something is all." Roy chuckled in response, sitting down next to Lina at the dining table.

"Don't scare us like that man!" Trent blurted out, visibly terrified about the health of his friend.

"You weren't advising me were you Jin? You were simply pointing out the options I had, testing my resolve. I won't be telling them anytime soon, at least not right now, but until I'm strong enough to protect them." He thought, yawning slightly out of exhaustion.

"So where's big mom?" He asked, turning his head in every direction, he saw no trace of her.

"She's out on an errand, but don't worry she'll be back soon." Song answered, rounding up with his dinner.

"That reminds me, Roy, we are all headed to the amusement park tomorrow! Thanks to our efforts and that of big mom's, she was able to raise enough money. Isn't that awesome!?" Lina howled in excitement, it was a chance for all of them to finally spend some time together as a family.

"Tomorrow!? Out of all days?" He muttered silently to himself.

"Oh is that so? That's great, I'm sure you guys would have lots of fun." Roy responded plainly knowing very well he couldn't make it, after all tomorrow was the day of the exams.

"What do you mean we? Aren't you coming as well?" Lina asked, a feeling of disapproval rising to the surface.

"Sorry, but I won't be able to make it. There's something I have to do." He said with a heavy heart.

"Damn you!" Song retaliated in fury, slamming his right hand on the table, causing an imbalance among all the cutleries on it.

"I just don't get it! What do you always have to do huh!? These past few weeks you've become distant from us, rarely smile and it drove you to do the unthinkable and got yourself involved with those high-class bastards. Big mom noticed this, she planned this majorly for you! She couldn't stand watching you harbor all the trauma from your past so she decided to plan a fun day just for us! And this is how you repay her!?" He added, growing more furious by the second.

The other's couldn't bare but watch as Song dished out all his anger at Roy, unknown to him, big mom had been working extra jobs and hours just to make the planned event a success.

Roy felt his eyes becoming teary by the second, but he had to stay strong.

"I'm sorry." He said, closing his eyes to prevent the tears from spilling out. "But like I said, there's something important I have to take care of." He added, standing up to his feet before leaving the dining area.

"You bastard!" His harbored anger over the past few weeks, watching big mom overwork herself just to please them all, rose to the surface.

He plunged forward at Roy, his right hand balled into a fist. He felt that it was only right that Roy would pay back the pain big mom went through after making her efforts look like a waste.

"Song! Don't!" Lina, Trent and the other's called to him, he was not in his right senses.

Letting out a soft sigh, Roy halted his movements and turned to face Song who approached him, what he didn't realize was that there were consequences to every choice one makes in life be it a right choice, or a bad one.

Song threw a right cross with all his might at his face, however to Roy who had seemingly gotten used to moving with the [Electric-Burst] technique which requires immense speed, Song's movement were like that of a turtle's.

He moved to his left, effortlessly evading the blow Song threw at him.

"Tch!" Song growled angrily, not only did he shut down the efforts of big mom, but now he undermined him.

He began throwing a series of punches as swiftly as he could at Roy's face, but he just dodged them all by moving his body to the right and to the left repeatedly.

Eventually, after Song's last punch appeared as though it would connect, Roy used his right hand to change the trajectory of his punch to the floor.

Song who was sent towards the ground rolled on it repeatedly, baffled as to how Roy had gained such strength.

"Damn you... Damn you!" An over furious Song exploded, he and Roy had always been close but after seeing how Roy's actions affected big mom greatly, he wasn't going to let this slide. He went for a final attack, rushing towards Roy with his hands balled into fists.

THUD!

Several bags dropped to the ground, creating a sudden noise which halted the movements of Song. Turning to locate the source of the sound, he found big mom standing right behind them with teary eyes, her hands over her mouth in shock as she found Song rushing at Roy almost with the intention to injure him.

"B-big mom!" He stammered, everyone including Roy were stunned, when did she get back unnoticed?

"What's going on... Why are you trying to kill each other? Just what is happening..." She asked with a shaky voice.

"Why don't you ask him, ask your beloved Roy what is so important that he can't come with us to the amusement park!" Song bellowed loudly.

"Roy... Is that true? You're not coming?" Big mom asked, facing Roy who was not left with two choices.

"I'm sorry, I won't be able to go with you all." Turning around and heading up the stairs towards his room, he added with a smile on his face.

"But I'll meet you all of you there." It wasn't what big mom had envisioned but it was still acceptable, leading her to smile softly.

"Okay." She said, wiping the little tears that rose to the surface. The exams are as early as 9:00am as specified by Jin and the amusement park doesn't opens till 10:30, there was still a chance that he could make it, or so he hoped.